Jihad in Islamic History by Michael Bonner

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Synopsis

What is jihad? Does it mean violence, as many non-Muslims assume? Or does it mean peace, as some Muslims insist? Because jihad is closely associated with the early spread of Islam, today's debate about the origin and meaning of jihad is nothing less than a struggle over Islam itself. In Jihad in Islamic History, Michael Bonner provides the first study in English that focuses on the early history of jihad, shedding much-needed light on the most recent controversies over jihad.

To some, jihad is the essence of radical Islamist ideology, a synonym for terrorism, and even proof of Islam's innate violence. To others, jihad means a peaceful, individual, and internal spiritual striving. Bonner, however, shows that those who argue that jihad means only violence or only peace are both wrong. Jihad is a complex set of doctrines and practices that have changed over time and continue to evolve today. The Quran's messages about fighting and jihad are inseparable from its requirements of generosity and care for the poor. Jihad has often been a constructive and creative force, the key to building new Islamic societies and states. Jihad has regulated relations between Muslims and non-Muslims, in peace as well as in war. And while today's "jihadists" are in some ways following the "classical" jihad tradition, they have in other ways completely broken with it.

Written for general readers who want to understand jihad and its controversies, Jihad in Islamic History will also interest specialists because of its original arguments.

Michael Bonner is professor of medieval Islamic history in the Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. He received his PhD in the Department of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University, in 1987. His recent publications include Jihad in Islamic History: Doctrines and Practices (2006) and Poverty and Charity in Middle Eastern Contexts, co-edited with Amy Singer and Mine Ener (2003). He has been a Helmut S. Stern fellow at the University of Michigan Institute for the Humanities and professeur invit at the Institut d'Etudes de l'Islam et des Soci t s du Monde Musulman, cole des Hautes tudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France and of Chaire de l'Institut du Monde Arabe, also in Paris. He was director of the University of Michigan Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies in 1997-2000 and 2001-2003, and acting chair of the Department of Near Eastern Studies in 2007-08.